Jan Mikael Nilsson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmîːkaɛl ˈnɪ̌lːsɔn]; born 28 September 1968) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender. He most notably played for IFK Göteborg with which he won six Swedish Championships and played in the UEFA Champions League. A full international between 1991 and 1996, he won 22 caps for the Sweden national team and represented his country at UEFA Euro 1992 and at the 1994 FIFA World Cup where Sweden finished third.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jan Mikael Nilsson | ||
| Date of birth | 28 September 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Falköping, Sweden | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Tomtens IF | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1985–1987 | IFK Falköping FF | 32 | (3) |
| 1987–2001 | IFK Göteborg | 284 | (21) |
| Total | 316 | (24) | |
| International career | |||
| 1986 | Sweden U19 | 4 | (3) |
| 1988–1990 | Sweden U21 | 14 | (1) |
| 1991–1996 | Sweden | 22 | (0) |
Medal record | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
editNilsson played for a local club called Tomtens IF and IFK Falköping until 1987 when he moved to IFK Göteborg, where he stayed until he ended his active career in 2001 due to an eye injury.[1] During these years, he played 609 first team matches, which is a club record. He also won six Swedish Championships with the club and played in several European competitions.[1]
International career
editNilsson played 22 international matches for the Sweden national team, and was part of the UEFA Euro 1992 and 1994 FIFA World Cup squads, he did however not play any matches in any of the tournaments.[2] He also represented the Sweden U19 and U21 teams, and competed at the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championship where Sweden reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by the Soviet Union.[2]
Legacy
editIn ITV's Greatest Champions League Goals programme, Nilsson's two strikes against PSV Eindhoven were number twenty and nineteen on the list of the top 50 goals, including a magnificent free-kick with an insane amount of curve, which probably is what he is best known for. One of Clive Tyldesley's famous quotes- "Now they know he can shoot, oh they know he can shoot", referred to Nilsson's second strike against PSV.[3]
Career statistics
editInternational
edit| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 1991 | 6 | 0 |
| 1992 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1993 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 22 | 0 | |
Honours
editIFK Göteborg[4]
Sweden
- FIFA World Cup third place: 1994[4]
Individual
- Årets ärkeängel: 1994[4]
- Stor Grabb: 1995[5]
Records
References
edit- ^ a b "SvenskaFans". www.svenskafans.com. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ a b c "Mikael Nilsson, Svensk Fotboll". Svensk Fotboll (Sweden FA).
- ^ May 2019, Greg Lea 02. "The 15 best free-kicks of all time: where does Messi rank?". fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c #13 Mikael Nilsson at ifkdb.com. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ^ "Stora Grabbars Märke - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Statistik". IFK Göteborg – Hela stadens lag (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
External links
edit- Mikael Nilsson at WorldFootball.net
- Mikael Nilsson at Elite Football
- Mikael Nilsson at the Swedish Football Association (in Swedish)
- Mikael Nilsson national team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archived)
- #13 Mikael Nilsson at ifkdb.com